The 4.6-point tax hike that looked like a cliff

The truncated axis

Bar chart titled “Top Tax Rate” with a y-axis starting at 34%, so the 39.6% bar towers over the 35% bar — Showing the misleading chart

The same two rates on a zero-based axis, where the bars are nearly the same height and the gap is labelled 4.6 points — Showing the misleading chart

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A top tax rate rising from 35% to 39.6%, drawn so the taller bar stands nearly six times the shorter one.

Fox News, 2012Added July 3, 2026

01The claim

Letting the Bush tax cuts lapse would rocket the top tax rate to a punishing new high.

02The trick

The y-axis starts at 34%, so a 4.6-point rise from 35% to 39.6% fills almost the whole chart — the taller bar stands roughly 5.6× the shorter one, though the rate itself climbs by about an eighth.

03The fix

On a zero-based axis the two bars are nearly the same height. The real gap is 4.6 percentage points — a relative rise of about 13%, not the fivefold jump the ink implies.